Thousand times over
by Good Old Me
Summary: When Haruno Satsuki told her daughter to practice a thousand times, she didn't think that Sakura would take her statement literally. This statement, while innocent, triggered something in Sakura to make her become a prodigy that hasn't been seen before. Sakura-centric, AU, one shot.


**After I deleted all my other fictions that I was working on, I decided that writing a multi-chapter story just isn't for me. I have ideas, but I can't write them into a full blown-out stories just because...because I just can't do them? I can't stay committed enough and there isn't an actual plotline in mind, just series of events and 'what ifs'. However, this idea has been plaguing my mind for awhile and I just had to write it down, so here goes a oneshot. if anyone would like to continue this, let me know and you have my blessing. I always really enjoy reading fanfictions where Sakura is not useless but determined and as strong as her teammates (if you guys know any good ones, recommend me some!). While it is cool to see flashy jutsus, the basic ones such as henge and replacement jutsus were the ones that interested me the most. I mean, they have so much potential and can be so useful, I don't understand why they are neglected. Thus, I decided to write a fiction where she practices the basics over and over - exactly a thousand times - and become just as strong as her counterparts. I'm sorry if this fiction accidentally resembles someone else's. I recently read a oneshot (I can't remember the name) but I do admit that this fiction was heavily influenced by that story, but I stress the word influenced rather than plagiarizing-it has major differences, after all. **

**Anyways, all ramblings aside, I hope you enjoy!  
**

* * *

"What's wrong, sweetie?"

A pink haired woman looked down at her daughter. Sakura, the said woman's daughter with pink hair and green eyes, looked at her dejectedly and sighed again. The mother looked steadily at her daughter, concerned that the usually cheerful girl was not being her usual self.

"Sakura, I can't help you unless you tell me what's wrong."

The little girl sighed.

"It's just that…I don't think I'm fit to be a ninja, mommy."

The mother blinked.

As a daughter of civilian, she had been shocked – astonished, frightened – that her sweet little girl came up to her one day and decided that she wanted to be enrolled into a Ninja Academy. When she asked for a reason, the little girl replied in equally cheerful voice that she wanted to protect her family like the awesome ninjas that flew on their rooftop, and her dad who died while protecting them from a bandit attack.

"I'll be strong and then, I'll be able to protect you!"

Since it was the first time that her daughter had asked for anything with such determined eyes –and wasn't that a shock, her shy, fragile baby was growing up—the mother had no choice but to allow her daughter to begin her dangerous path. Oh, she was a civilian but she wasn't blind;she knew that she was subjecting herself to many sleepless nights wondering whether her baby girl was alive or dead, but if it is Sakura's choice, then so be it. She would be a supporting mother.

However, Sakura had been anything but cheerful every since the start of her education in the Ninja Academy. Amongst other children from prominent ninja family, Sakura's chakra, reflexes, strength, speed, _just everything_, was severely lacking. While she tried to remain positive, each day she came back home a little more dejected than the day before, becoming less confident as the year went on, something that worried her mother greatly.

And now, finally, it came to this.

"What makes you say that, honey?"

She reached over and hugged her daughter. Sakura returned the hug, seeking comfort in her mother. Her mother's patience, support, and willingness to listen made Sakura pour her heart out, telling her mother the things that have been bothering her since her enrollment in the Academy.

"Everyone is so talented! Sasuke-kun is amazing in virtually everything, Ino is the strongest girl in the class, Hinata is amazing at taijutsu even though she's super shy, Shikamaru is a genius... Everyone is better than me and I just…I don't think I can do it."

Her mother frowned.

"But honey, the report card that you got last week said that you were doing well in your classes."

It was true. Last week, a preliminary report card was sent home for everyone in order to notify the parents of their children's progress, or the lack there of. Sakura's mother was relieved to read the report card, which had written glowing comments about Sakura's intelligence, and while she was not the best in all areas, they stated that she was proficient in the basics and met the standards. In other words, she was very average. Combined with her exceptional academic score, Sakura was doing above average.

"I know…I know the basics like the forms but I…I can't do it as well as other kids in my class. And even if I know the basics, I didn't even hear about let alone know any other jutsus other than the ones that they teach in the Academy, while all the other kids know their clan jutsus already and other cool ones that they don't even mention in the Academy. We didn't even learn to do the basic ones yet and they already know other jutsus! It's unfair! And and...just somehow...everything that I do just isn't enough somehow. I can't do it like them."

Sakura looked at her mother, slightly frustrated that her limited vocabulary refused to let her explain exactly what she was trying to convey. She wished to convey that her movements, while textbook perfect, were still unsure and weak – unlike the movements of the Hyuuga Heiress or Uchiha or anyone else in the class really –making her feel like an ungraceful duck in the middle of swans.

Her mother, bless her soul, seemed to somehow understand what Sakura was trying to convey even without her words. She nodded in understanding and Sakura momentarily brightened, seeing that her mother understood her. She really was lucky to have such an amazing mom!

"Sakura-chan, do you want to know what my secret is for doing dances?"

Sakura blinked. Her mother was famous for her traditional dance routines; they called her movements graceful and light, conveying emotion with even the slightest movement. It was something that even the shinobis respected her mother for, a fact that Sakura was extremely proud of. She had always thought that her mother was just born with natural innate talent to be an amazing dancer, and lamented the fact that she had not received the 'dancer genes' from her mother. She didn't know there was a secret that made her mother more exceptional than the other dancers.

"It isn't because you are naturally good?"

Her mother chuckled.

"Part of it might be because I was born with a mother who was equally graceful, yes. But it's not all because of my innate talent."

Sakura looked at her mother excitedly.

"Do you think your secret will make me become a better kunoichi as well?"

Her mother smiled.

"I'm 100% sure that it will."

Sakura grinned and looked at her mother expectantly.

"What is it? What is it? Mom, please tell me!"

Her mother chuckled. She leaned into Sakura and placed her soft lips near Sakura's ear which made her giggle –"That tickles"—and whispered as if sharing the world's greatest secret.

"It's practicing the basics."

Her mother moved her head away from Sakura and looked at her, only to see that Sakura was frowning at her.

"But I do practice!"

Her mother gave her a stern look.

"Do you really? Do you practice your Academy katas and ninjutsus everyday? Every hour? When I have a performance coming up, I spend almost no time doing anything else (other than eating and sleeping) but focus solely on my dance routine, practicing and practicing until the movements become my second nature.

Do you practice as nearly as much as I do when I prepare for my dance performance, Sakura?"

The said girl looked down, shamed. She doesn't nearly practice as much as her mother, but she didn't think that was necessary since she knew the ninjutsu and the katas already. She told her mother so.

Her mother shook her head.

"It doesn't matter that I know the basics already, sweetheart. I practice because simply knowing them isn't enough – the movements have to become natural for me to convey emotions, and the emotions only occur to me when I know the routine so well that I understand the story and the purpose behind each movement. Knowing when to raise my hand or spin isn't enough – it isn't what the audience wants to see when they see an accomplished dancer. To tell a story, Sakura, to tell a story through my movements, even repeating the movements a hundred times isn't enough."

"But why the basics?"

Her mother tapped her nose.

"Because the basics are the foundation to every single routine, silly! If I don't know the basics, I can't do any dance routine at all!"

Sakura pouted.

"Then when is it enough?"

Her mother smiled.

"My dance teacher used to tell me that I needed to practice a dance sequence a thousand times."

Sakura's eyes widened. A thousand times? That was too much, and there is no way that she could perform the Academy katas a thousand times when even performing the sequence once gets her winded and tired!

But perhaps that was the point. Perhaps, since she gets tired from just doing it the first time, she needs to do them more to be better at them, increase her stamina, and so on. Besides, didn't ninjas have incredible stamina? Doing any physical exercise will be helpful in her quest to become the best kunoichi. Sakura clenched her fist, determined. She gave her mother a peck on the cheek and pushed her away. She grinned and ran to the door, waving at her mother.

"Thanks for the tip, mom!"

Her mother smiled. She hoped Sakura wouldn't literally perform anything a thousand times – that was merely an expression, after all. But her daughter was a bright girl; she'd know that the phrase was a hyperbolic one, taken figuratively rather than literally.

Right?

...

Sakura reached the Academy playground in puffs. She went to a corner of the playground—the area that she claimed for herself ever since the start of the Academy—and looking around, found a wooden stick lying on the ground. She grinned and picked up the stick, and with firm grasp, wrote the word 'kata' on the ground.

"Okay, let's do this!"

She vowed to do at least 50 before she went home today. And after she performed her kata a thousand times, she would move onto the ninjutsus that they were taught, and then later, throw weapons at the bullseye a thousand times. After that, she'd do the obstacle course a thousand times and and…well, she'd figure something out afterwards.

She began performing the kata, once, twice, thrice, and on her fourth time, she nearly collapsed when doing a jump because she grew too tired. She lay on the ground, puffing. She knew her stamina was below average – okay, it was pathetic for a shinobi standard – but to be completely exhausted after just three? She grew sad. At this rate, she'd never be able to repeat the sequence a hundred times, let alone a thousand!

She narrowed her eyes. No. She was done being the average. She wanted to be the best kunoichi, no the best in the class damn it, and if repeating the stupid Academy kata a thousand times was going to make her the best that there is, then so be it. She regained her breathing and stood up, determined to complete her goal of performing at least 50.

She would not give up.

...

On her hundred and fiftieth time of doing the kata, she noticed that the movements became instinctual. For instance, in the spars during class, the reactions to various punches and kicks from her classmates were met swiftly and efficiently with series of movements that were ingrained in her due to her constant repetition of the Academy kata.

Even in her everyday life, now when someone tripped her - mainly some of the girls in her class that were mean to her - or she began to lose her balance, she would automatically perform the sequence in her kata after a jump, landing in series of tumbles or spins. First time she did it, she stared at her hands with wide eyes, wondering what the heck just happened. But then she moved on with a smile, happy with the unexpected result that her repetition had on her everyday life.

Her sensei started to notice the difference as well. They praised her improvement in taijutsu - "Now you're getting it, Haruno-kun!"- and she slowly went from being the bottom of her class when it comes to taijutsu, and moved up to average.

She was still not the best at it but she was getting there, and she would become the best in taijutsu even if it killed her!

Along with her taijutsu, her stamina improved greatly as well. No longer was she tired from doing 5 sequence, now, she could at least do 15 before getting tired and winded and even then, she wasn't as exhausted as she was before when she completed only 5. Along with her new skills, her confidence soared as well, and the girls who bullied her previously began to stir away from her in fear of being the receiving end of her punches and kicks.

Sakura couldn't be happier.

Now convinced that her method of constant repetition was at least getting something right other than giving her constant exhaustion and muscle pain, she began to do them even more enthusiastically than before. She tried to perform them faster, and instead of aiming her kicks to the air, she tried to find a practice dummy - a training post or even a tree - and aimed her kick so that she could even work on her strength whilst doing the katas. This made her speed improve, and now she could produce quite a nasty bruise during her spars in class - a fact that she was viciously proud of.

On her four hundredth repetition of the kata, she began to think that some of the movements could be shortened to be faster. Sure, she would be performing the same series of movements, but she began to cut away on all the unnecessary movements such as some of the cartwheels. They looked cool, yes, and sometimes they might be necessary movements in dogging moving projectiles; however, was it really necessary when most of the times, just running produced equal results? From then on, she began to do two sets of kata - one where all of the movements were performed, the pretty cartwheels and all, and the other was her shortened version with unnecessary movements excluded. Of course, she started her count of the second (shortened sequence) from the beginning.

When they were taught a new set of kata in her class, she excitedly learned all the movements and memorized them carefully - she didn't want to perform wrong set of katas a thousand times, after all - and began to add that to her routine. When her taijutsu teacher told the class that they could wear wrist and ankle weights to help improve their speed, agility and strength, she listened carefully and proceeded to implement them right away in her training routine. With her added weights, she decided to renew the count of thousand - she finished her first set of thousand few weeks ago - and vowed to renew the weights to heavier ones every time she finished a set of thousand.

After her success in improving her taijutsu, she began to incorporate her new training method to other areas, such as her ninjutsu. While they were not taught anything extravagant, the other day the teacher finally began chakra manipulation of sticking a leaf onto the hand. While the exercise was almost laughingly easy for Sakura, she decided to perform it a thousand times just to make her talent in chakra manipulation even better.

She also tried to stick the leaf on her hand longer each time, and began to stick more leaf onto her hand until her mother decided to make her stop - "you look like you are aspiring to become a tree, or becoming one with all the leaves covering your hand, not to mention the house is becoming a mess"- now only sticking the leaves onto her hand on one spot, instead of all over her hand.

Needless to say, from her already exceptional control, her control over her chakra became something so close if not literally perfect with no waste whatsoever. The Academy teachers began to think that she'd become either the next Tsunade Senju or the greatest genjutsu master that Konoha has ever produced, or even both.

Wanting to make her perfect control over her chakra stay perfect, her teacher showed her a tree-climbing exercise which was meant to be shown for genins but she thought that Sakura would have no trouble over it. Of course, the teacher was correct in her assumption and was amazed when Sakura effortlessly walked on the tree, perhaps even more efficiently than the teacher herself.

Since the tree-climbing exercise posed no challenge, the teacher then showed Sakura how to walk on water, only to be amazed once again that she was able to perform the exercise on her first try, albeit getting splashed from losing her balance at first because of her inexperience with water's constantly changing current. The teacher shook her head in amazement, feeling slightly humbled to witness what was sure to be a blooming of a prodigy.

Sakura, oblivious to her instructor's amazement, was only glad that she now had a new exercise that she could perform a thousand times over, and began to do laps on the river that her teacher showed her - a thousand laps, of course. While her chakra reserves only allowed her to perform only 5 laps in the beginning even with her perfect control - which was a feat in itself since her chakra reserves were nothing to be amazed about, only slightly slightly below average from her continuous sticking leaves exercise - her reserves grew due to constant exhaustion that it was put under. Now, her reserves rivaled that of Ino's, whose reserves had always been one of the largest among the girls in her class (along with Hinata) due to her heritage in a clan.

On her three hundred and fiftieth lap, she noticed that she didn't have to run along the water and began to glide on water as if skating on ice, finding it to be much easier and faster way. Then, she realized that there was no need for her feet to connect to the river at all, since the water droplets from the river made it so that with her perfect control, she could use them to walk and run. If it looked as if she was walking on air, she didn't notice, only happy that there was a new exercise to add to her growing training routine.

Truly, it was the beginning of a prodigy.

...

Sakura's mother noticed a change ever since the day when Sakura came home crying. No longer was her daughter coming home dejected and depressed – now, she looked as if she was in constant pain and exhaustion marred her every step, but her eyes shone with determination and purpose. She was also never in the house, only coming home after 9 or 10 at night - first time Sakura came back home that late, she scolded her daughter but when Sakura looked at her and stated with serious green eyes, "Mom, I'm going to be a ninja; danger is part of the job," she sighed and resigned to her fate of having a ninja-in-training-daughter - and after a hug and a kiss, went straight to the bathroom and to the bed. She didn't mention anything, just deciding to be content with the knowledge that at least, Sakura was happier. If it felt like she was growing too fast and leaving her mother behind, she didn't mention it.

One day, Sakura came back home with the widest, happiest grin on her face.

"I beat Sasuke-kun during spar today, mom!"

Her mother's eyes widened in surprise. After all, didn't her daughter state just few months ago that Sasuke-kun was the "bestest, coolest ninja ever" and and that he was miles above everyone in the class in terms of taijutsu especially? Also, how did she even manage to hit him, what with that humongous crush that she has on him?

But as she moved her mouth to respond, she stopped as she observed the grin on Sakura's face, the newly formed muscles on her arms and legs, as well as the sense of accomplishment, pride, and determination that were not present months before. She also remembered that Sakura's movements were becoming more precise, every stride and movement laced with purpose and necessary, unlike her own which were graceful and pretty, decorative with its main purpose to be aesthetically pleasing rather than lethal. Now that she thought about it, her daughter never mentioned Sasuke in the months that she began her training in earnest.

'I guess she ended her childish crush and replaced it with her devotion for training,' her mother thought, secretly glad that the crush had ended so swiftly.

She closed her mouth and merely smiled at her daughter, whose grin grew wider as her mother acknowledged her accomplishment.

"I'm proud of you, Sakura-chan."

Sakura ran and gave her a hug, burying her face in her mother's bosom.

"It's all because of you, mom. You're the one who told me that to be good at it, I need to do it a thousand times!"

Her mother's eyes again, widened. Oh, she thought her daughter took the statement figuratively, and not literally! Before she could respond, Sakura escaped her mother's arms and ran towards the door, new found enthusiasm in her every step.

"Now I need to perform the henge a thousand times as well as the clones and the replacements - oh, so much to do. Bye mom, don't wait for me to eat dinner!"

She waved and before her mother could respond, already running towards the Academy training ground. Her mother sighed. It seemed that Sakura has gotten a lot faster as well.

The mother smiled and looked out the window to see the bight sky. Maybe she'd make curry today, Sakura's favorite, to celebrate her accomplishment.

...

"So, who do you think will be the Rookie of the year this year?"

Iruka scoffed. Was that even up for a debate?

"Haruno Sakura, of course."

Iruka reflected. It was true; ever since Sakura had beaten Sasuke in a spar two years ago, she had stayed at the top of her class in everything despite Sasuke Uchiha's hate filled glares that he sent her every day. It was something to be amazed about since before, she was near bottom when it came to practical work and had a humongous crush on the Uchiha, probably never even imagining the thought of hitting him, let alone pummeling him to the ground.

He then smiled as he reflected Sakura's prodigious skills that bloomed over the years. No, that wasn't right - while she was a prodigy when it came to intelligence and chakra control, in rest of the area it was all due to her extreme determination and hardwork, which he thought was even more deserving of praise over innate skills. If only the Hokage didn't allow for early graduation anymore, Iruka was sure that she would have been qualified to graduate a year ago.

"The final examination is the clone technique, right?"

Iruka nodded in agreement.

"I wonder how she'll impress us this time..."

Ever since she became the top of her class, she began to challenge herself to make the basic exercises even more interesting. Since the basics taught by the Academy were already ingrained in her (from thousand repetition although her instructors had no idea of this), she modified the basics so that they would be more efficient, saving her time and energy when she needed to do them so often. The instructors could only look at her in shock when she beat the Academy record of obstacle course by 10 seconds not due to her speed, but due to her ingenious way of going over the obstacles. The way she jumped over the wooden posts were unlike other students, but she minimized the distance that she jumped so much so that the distance was barely enough to go over the wooden post and no more. Also, with clever use of chakra, she _glided _under the net instead of crawling, saving her a lot of time. While her record wasn't recognized by the administration because her use of chakra and movements were considered 'cheating,' nevertheless it struck the Academy instructors and her fellow students in awe.

"I'm sure she'll think of something. Speaking of the devil, next is Haruno."

Iruka looked to the door, smiling as his pink haired student came in with a slightly nervous but confident smile. Iruka couldn't fault her for being confident. She knew her skills, her limits, and she had every reason to be confident. It helped that she was also polite and never arrogant about her talents.

"Sakura, the final test is the clone technique. Could you show us please?"

Sakura blinked but broke out into a happy grin. Yesterday, when she was practicing her clone technique for the eight hundred fifty ninth time, she was able to accomplish something that she has never been able to thus far.

"Clone technique."

Iruka and Mizuki gaped in surprise because there it was, in front of them, 3 perfect replications of Sakura. While the number of the clones were more than any other clones produced from the students before her, what astonished them was that she performed it without making any seals whatsoever. Sealess techniques of the basics were known to be requirements of becoming a jounin, and for a mere academy students to do them before even becoming a genin...

"A-Amazing..."

Mizuki shook her head in amazement and reached for the headband in front of him. He gave it to her, grinning.

"Congratulations, Sakura. You are now a proud genin of Konoha."

Sakura's grin couldn't be larger.

She gave Iruka and Mizuki a hug, which surprised them again although for completely different reasons, took the headband and got out.

"Thank you, sensei!"

Mizuki and Iruka looked at each other once she closed the door behind her.

"Do you think...?"

"Yeah."

Sakura's score of 110 was the highest score in the Academy history.

Officially, Haruno Sakura was known as the prodigy and the rookie of the year.

...

As she waited for her sensei, she looked at her new teammates with curiosity. While Uchiha Sasuke she was familiar with since he always glared and looked at her with hate-filled eyes, the other teammate, Uzumaki Naruto, she didn't know much about other than being a village prankster and near bottom of the class.

She inwardly cringed. One of the side effect of her near constant training routine was that her social life was nonexistent other than her conversations with her mother on the weekends. Even during lunch time in the Academy, she immediately finished her lunch and trained in her corner that no one goes to, cutting off any opportunity for conversation. And since she didn't interact with anyone during lunch time, she doesn't hang out with anyone after school either - even if she did have friends or some people to hang out with, she wouldn't have because of her need to finish repeating everything a thousand times. Due to this, she virtually knew nothing about her classmates other than their names and how they looked like.

She couldn't even start a conversation because the lack of interaction with her peers had made her become almost closed off and withdrawn, due to not knowing how to interact rather than the lack of willingness to. This also caused her to be even more alienated by her peers since, combined with her exceptional grades, they thought she was arrogant and condescending. She sighed.

But they were going to be teammates, right? So she really should talk to them, at least to Naruto (since Sasuke looked like he would rather kill and burn her before even talking to her). She looked to her teammate, only to find him climbing on top of a chair and placing a chalkboard eraser on the door.

"Naruto-kun, what are you doing?"

He grinned.

"You'll see, Sakura-chan!"

She tilted her head curiously but before she could open her mouth to suggest a better position to place the eraser, Sasuke interrupted her.

"He's a jounin. He won't fall for that kind of stupid trick."

Sakura looked at him. While she agreed, that didn't mean that it wasn't worth a try.

"Shut up, teme! You don't even-"

All conversation stopped as the door opened and revealed a silver-haired jounin with all of his face covered, the eraser landing perfectly on the middle of his head. Naruto bursted out into laughter while Sasuke looked at the jounin in disbelief, and Sakura tried her hardest to suppress her erupting giggles.

"My first impression is that I hate all of you."

Well, that went extremely well.

...

"So, why don't we begin by introducing ourselves?"

Hatake Kakashi, the newest teacher of the Team 7 - soon to be ex, if he had his way - looked at his charge - again, soon to be ex - one by one. Uzumaki Naruto, his sensei's son, was bursting with energy and constantly jumping up and down, while the Uchiha kid was brooding in the corner, angry but strangely enough without that classically arrogance in his posture.

'Ah, the answer to his lack of arrogance was her,' he thought, observing the pink-haired girl on the right.

He was surprised when he read his soon-to-be-ex students' profiles because he realized that, unlike what he thought, Uchiha wasn't the Rookie of the year; the daughter of the famous dancer Haruno Satsuki was. He looked at her pink hair and green eyes and thought that she looked more like a dancer, like her mother, rather than an intimidating ninja but who was he to judge? With his porn always at hand, he wasn't exactly the poster boy of intimidation. Besides, his experience told him that looks don't reveal shit about the person's skills.

He raised his eyebrows at the positively glowing reports from her Academy instructors, praising her to have _the_ perfect chakra control, walking on trees and walking on water on her first try, and the top of her class in everything. While her chakra reserves were average and nothing to write home about, her phenomenal control made it so that she didn't waste any of her limited reserves at all. Her taijutsu was apparently flawless as well, only doing the utmost necessary movements and wasting none, and he suppressed the urge to gasp when he saw that she performed seal-less clone technique on her final exam, breaking the record that _he_ set when he graduated the Academy.

He looked at the Hokage.

"A genius?"

The Hokage smiled.

"Yes, but perhaps not in the way that you think. Dare I say it, but I think she will surprise you, Kakashi-kun."

As Kakashi reflected his day at the Hokage's office and observed the pink-haired girl, he didn't think that he'd pass her. A genius like her was almost always arrogant, believing they were the best in everything, and absolutely abysmal at teamwork. He thought for certain that he would have to send her back to the Academy, although her skills were astonishing.

Even though she was exhibiting no arrogance at the moment, he was certain that it would show during their introduction.

"You, blondie, go first."

Naruto bristled at the comment but adjusted his headband and talked in his loudest voice.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like..."

Sakura listened to his introduction with a smile. She thought that he was a very interesting character, and although he blushed whenever he looked at her, she thought it was because he was perhaps shy just like her. Yes, she would get along with him nicely. His cheerfulness was refreshing after near constant solitude on her spare time, and she thought that he would grow to be a good teammate. While he graduated at the bottom of the class, she didn't doubt that he could achieve his dream of becoming a Hokage either, because with enough practice anything was possible. She was the biggest evidence of that, after all.

Sasuke, on the other hand...

"You on the center."

Sasuke frowned but began his introduction.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't like many things and I don't have a dream but an ambition. My goal is to kill a certain man and restore the Uchiha clan."

Sakura looked at her teammate curiously, while Naruto gulped. Kakashi sighed, already having predicted his answer. Now for the girl of the team...

"You, the pinky."

Sakura looked at her sensei and blushed at having the attention of all three males. She shyly looked up from her bangs.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like my mother, dancing, and learning new exercises that I can do when I train. My hobby is training. My dislikes are people who don't try or look down upon others. My goal..."

It was such a long time ago that she reminded herself of her reason of becoming a ninja...

"My goal is to protect my mother in place of my father. Protecting anyone I care about, I guess?"

_Protect your mother, Sakura. _

She smiled melancholy and looked at her sensei. Kakashi stared at her, surprised that the very thing that he assumed her to be was what she disliked. Naruto looked at her, detecting the hint of melancholy in her voice and wondering what happened to her father. Sasuke, already having guessed that her father was gone, looked at her with slight sympathy before reminding himself that she at least had her mother while he had none. He looked away, clenching his fists.

"Well, now that the introduction is over and done with. I hate to break it to you guys but you guys are far from being done from graduating Academy..."

...

Hatake Kakashi didn't expect this.

No, not at all.

'Haruno Sakura will be the death of me.'

While he knew that she was certainly something like a genius - sealless clones during Academy years? Impossible - he didn't know that her genius was a product of _enormous amount of repetition. _That explained why the Hokage thought that she would surprise him. He thought she'd be better suited to be placed with Gai instead of him; her tenacity would get along mightily with his rival.

Her taijutsu, while so amazingly textbook perfect that it was a carbon copy of the diagrams in the textbook, were efficient like the Academy instructor stated, without any unnecessary flashy movements that they add to keep the students more motivated from doing it. And her speed and the power was nothing to scoff at, matching closely with Sasuke's.

But what set her apart from the Uchiha wasn't her speed, or the strength, or her form or efficiency. No, that wouldn't be so annoying. What made her so surprising was the almost instinctive quality to her movements, something found only with seasoned and experienced ninjas. This truly set her apart and made her even dangerous.

He wasn't talking about her battle instincts, but just her movements in general - the reflexes, the ease in which she moved from kicks to jumps to gliding on the sand (for fuck sake, how did she learn how to glide), incorporating such standard Academy movements into the battle that he almost felt nostalgic of his Academy days fighting her.

And damn, she reminded him why the Academy katas were repeated constantly in his ANBU days! After all, the basic taught in Academy were what saved his and many of his colleague's life many times during his career, consisting nothing but movements designed to help you be efficient, conserve energy, and save your ass. And this girl, she performed the movements more smoothly and easily than anyone he has ever seen, yes including his sensei and the Hokage or the ANBU because no one really bothered that much with basics, no matter their importance and what they preached to their students. No, they all performed taijutsu that were more lethal, jutsus that were flashier, rather than repeating Academy katas as much as this girl obviously had.

'Fuck,' he thought as he dodged another standard kick to his head and turning to dodge the leg that was coming to hook his waist in what he was sure was going to be a painful slam to the ground. How many times did she practice the katas that they seamlessly bled into one another and utilizing it so naturally without her even blinking twice about it?

On top of her taijutsu, her ninjutsus were nothing to scoff at. He found out, with astonishment, that she could perform the Replacement technique without seals as well, which meant that he made the mistake of capturing a log in a genjutsu (embarrassing, now that he looked back. He severely underestimated her, believing her to be nothing more than an ordinary genius genin, not this...weird genius genin). Also, her chakra control couldn't be described as anything else but terrifying. She wasted absolutely nothing, no residue after she performed a technique, so much so that she might as well have chakra reserves almost as large as Naruto with how efficiently she was using it, and she seemed to be floating on the air during her spar, which he hoped was trick of the eye and not something like her secret capability of _flying_. Not to mention, with her chakra control, she made each blows stronger so that he was actually weary of getting hit with one of them.

Fuck, he repeated.

As he moved his hand to block another kick and jumping when she immediately _glided on the fucking ground again_, he thought about his other genins that were looking at her and their sensei, one with a gaping mouth, and the other with extreme jealousy and hatred (Can you guess which one was jealous?). Yeah, he didn't need to worry about them at all at the moment, only this pink-haired monstrosity.

However, he wasn't a jounin for nothing and even though this girl had more experience than he did with Academy katas, he had more experience period, so he eventually overpowered her unorthodox but deeply traditional and basic movements (and wasn't that a paradox in itself). He tied her to a post, not for punishing her, but because she would prove to be a menace in evaluating the other two genins. She glared at him from her post but he smiled at her and gave her a wave, while setting out to the Uchiha kid.

As he engaged in a spar with the Uchiha, he couldn't help but let his mind wonder and for the first time, debate whether he should pass her even if she doesn't understand the concept of teamwork. That kind of tenacity was nothing to scoff at, and it would be such incredible waste of talent to dismiss her.

'And isn't that a line of thought that I never thought I'd think', he thought.

...

Sakura came back to her mom, grinning.

"Mom, I'm official officially a genin of Konoha!"

Her mother smiled.

"That's my girl. Would you like to eat out for celebration?"

Sakura grinned.

"Nah, I gotta go and train. I have to finish doing thousand laps around the village, and I'm only at 350!"

As her daughter waved and went out the door, her mother sighed and wondered if perhaps, she shouldn't have told Sakura about repeating things a thousand times. Really, she wondered if it was getting a bit obsessive...

'Oh well,' she thought, 'if it saves her life one day then who am I to oppose?'

With that, she began to hum and finish cooking dinner. Perhaps she'd make takoyaki for Sakura...

* * *

**And that's a wrap. **

**Drop a review on your way out, will ya?**

**Thanks!**


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